Candover, the private equity group, has agreed with its investors to suspend the ?3bn fund it raised last year, freezing new investments and reducing its management fees.The fund will be put on hold until October 6, by which time Candover hopes to have resolved doubts over its future.
Candover has put itself up for sale and talks with potential buyers continue, the group said yesterday. Management fees at the fund will remain at 1.5 per cent, but the fees will only be charged on the £150m it has invested out of the fund so far, instead of its ?3bn of committed capital.
The only deal by the new fund so far was to finance £150m of its £282m investment in Expro International, an oil services group. Candover last month cut the valuation of its portfolio by half, writing down seven investments to zero, including Gala Coral, the UK??s biggest bingo group, Ferretti, an Italian yachtmaker, and Technogym, an Italian maker of fitness equipment.
Candover said: ??We may enter into preliminary discussions with selected parties in due course but emphasises that there can be no certainty as to the outcome of such discussions.? Candover is also looking to sell several investments including Qioptiq and Wood MacKenzie.
